It was not clear if the new firm was related to the anticipated Shanghai plant.

According to the news report by Reuters, in anticipation of China scrapping its rules with regard to foreign companies owning new-energy vehicle (NEV) firms, Tesla has registered a new electric vehicle company in Shanghai.

Called Tesla (Shanghai) Co Ltd, the firm will focus on electric cars, spare parts and batteries, as well as the development of photovoltaic products.

"We don't have anything new to add on this news for now", a Tesla spokeswoman told CNET in an emailed statement, adding the company hopes to share more "in the coming months".

Now all Tesla cars sold in China are imported from the US. Musk has also eluded in the past that the company will produce the Model 3 and Model Y in China, while the more expensive Model S and Model X aren't likely to see Chinese production. Now, Tesla has announced that it would unveil the location of its own Gigafactory in China. Plug-in-hybrid vehicle sales are booming in the country.

The Palo Alto, California-based company has been working with Shanghai's government since a year ago to explore assembling cars in China.

Last year, 777,000 electric and plug-in hybrid cars were sold on the mainland, up 53 per cent from 2016.